International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)

Mary Hartsock is living proof that longevity with an employer is no guarantee of honesty.  The ex-office manager for Laborers International Union of North America Local 1358, based in Elmira, N.Y., pleaded guilty on October 29 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York to embezzling $17,958 in funds.  Hartsock, 49, a resident of nearby Millport, N.Y., had served in her position from 1980 until January 2007.  Federal prosecutors charged that from January 2002 until her dismissal five years later, she converted union receipts to her own use by not depositing or reporting member dues payments.  The guilty plea came as the result of an investigation by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.  (Elmira Star-Gazette, 10/30/07; OLMS, 11/1/07).                            

St. Louis Ex-Financial Secretary Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement

For someone who might wind up doing a long prison stretch, Brian McLaughlin for the past several months has been leading a normal life, working as a full-time electrician in Midtown Manhattan.  But appearances are deceiving.  McLaughlin, a Queens, N.Y., Democratic State Assemblyman and head of the New York City Central Labor Council until a year ago, is set to go on trial on federal charges that he embezzled or otherwise took without authorization a combined $2.2 million from unions, contractors, taxpayers and even a baseball Little League over the years.  The jury selection process in Manhattan federal court is now in the beginning stages.  If convicted, McLaughlin, 55, could get life in prison.

On August 31, Judy Thurman, former treasurer of Federated Independent Texas Union Local 900, pled guilty in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to one count of embezzling union funds totaling $164,268.50.  Thurman, who had served at her union post for nearly two years, originally had been indicted on 19 counts.  FITU Local 900 represents Lockheed Aerospace workers in Ft. Worth.  The plea follows an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department.  (OLMS, 9/21/07). 

Oklahoma Local President Sentenced for False Record-Keeping

On June 5, James A. Pulsifer, a certified public accountant, was sentenced to one year of probation and fined $1,000 for knowingly making false entries in the annual Labor Department reporting form of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA).  In the course of making accounting adjustments, he had misclassified some $500,000 in union expenditures.  SPEEA officers who signed the report believed it was free of errors and in compliance with federal regulations.  Pulsifer was charged in November and pleaded guilty in February.  The union, based in Seattle, represents professional employees of Boeing, BAE Systems and other aerospace companies.  The action comes in the wake of an investigation by the Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.  (OLMS, 6/15/07).  

Former Treasurer of Atlanta Union Indicted for Embezzlement